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Life-saving OD reversal kit may have faulty sprayer

If you have the life-saving heroin and opioid overdose antidote naloxone, check its sprayer. The device that administers the naloxone could be under recall.

Medical device maker Teleflex Inc. has issued a recall on some of its nasal misters amid concerns they are not administering medication properly.

The device at the end of the dispenser, called an atomizer, is supposed to pump a mist of medication into an overdosed person's nostrils. The spray can restore breathing in people who are overdosing. Instead, the mechanism was found to be shooting a stream, which is not as effective as a mist, public health officials and the company said.

Teleflex issued the recall Friday, prompting public health officials around the country to alert people and organizations that might have the device. The device not working properly "can lead to serious injury or death in certain medical situations," the company said.

State and local health departments in Ohio and Kentucky are encouraging people who believe they have naloxone kits covered by the recall to contact the organization or pharmacy from which they received their kits to arrange a return. In addition, people may email recalls@teleflex.com.

Naloxone is becoming more accessible across the nation including in Ohio and Kentucky as overdoses and overdose-related deaths due to heroin are rising.

Hamilton County Public Health Commissioner Tim Ingram said Monday that his department has contacted entities that may have received naloxone with the affected atomizer, and the process to return and replace the devices is underway.

Northern Kentucky Health Department spokeswoman Emily Gresham Wherle said the overdose antidote kit provided to its clients, Adapt Pharma Narcan Nasal Spray, does not contain the faulty atomizer. Also in Kentucky, Office of Drug Control Policy Director Van Ingram said that the naloxone kits that the state has dispensed are not affected by the recall. Naloxone kits provided to released inmates from the Kenton County Detention Center are not affected by the recall either.

An example of the Narcan product that is not impacted by the Teleflex recall.(Photo: Provided)